Elena Davydova - gymnast, winner of the 1980 Olympics, absolute champion of the USSR in 1981. He is a candidate of pedagogical sciences and honored master of sports. Multiple prize winner in free disciplines, exercises on parallel bars and all-around. This article will describe a brief biography of the athlete.
Childhood
Elena Viktorovna Davydova was born in Voronezh in 1961. The girl became interested in gymnastics at the age of six when she saw on TV Natalya Kuchinskaya and Larisa Petrik (Olympic gold medalists). Elena tried to enter the Spartak gymnastics school herself, but she was not accepted because of her short stature (at that time this was considered a drawback). Nevertheless, the girl did not forget about her dream. She regularly came to school and secretly watched the lessons of gymnasts through the windows.
Soon, Gennady Korshunov (trainer) noticed her and invited her to a trial lesson. Then he added Elena to the group led by his wife. After the talent of Davydova became obvious, Gennady took up her training himself. By 1972, the girl became the best student of her group.
Competitions
In 1973, Elena Davydova won her first international tournament. And a year later she became part of the country's junior team. A vault, a beam, bars and floor exercises - these are the types of gymnastics that the girl specialized in. In 1975, according to the results of several junior competitions, Elena took third place in the amount of exercises. Also, the girl won gold medals on the uneven bars and in the vault. And in March 1976, Davydova became the absolute champion of the country.
Olympiad
In 1980, the main competitor of Elena was the Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci. Throughout the Olympic competitions, they went almost flush. At the final stage of Comaneci it was necessary to score 9.925 points for an absolute victory. Before grading, there was a significant hitch. Maria Simionscu (Romanian judge) refused to give points, because it deprived Comaneci of gold. This situation delayed the competition by almost half an hour, but still the score was fixed. As a result, Nadia scored only 9.85 and shared the silver with Maxi Gnauk. Davydova set a record 9.95, which brought the gymnast a gold medal. Athletes from the USSR, Sweden and East Germany shook Elena in his arms and threw her into the air.
After the olympiad
In July 1981, the hundredth anniversary of the International Gymnastics Federation was celebrated in Montreux. Elena Davydova was invited to perform her famous floor exercises. She repeated them twice, which caused a storm of applause in the hall. In August, the girl went to a tournament in Turkey. Bars, floor exercises and a vault - these are the types of gymnastics that Elena managed to defeat. The girl scored the highest points. By the way, the heroine of this article is the only gymnast who did not perform in the world championships after winning Olympic gold.
Career ending
After leaving sports, Elena Davydova entered graduate school at the Lesgaft Institute. Later, she defended her thesis there and became a candidate of pedagogical sciences. Since 1987, Elena began to engage in coaching, as well as refereeing.
Family and personal life
In 1983, the heroine of this article married Pavel Filatov, who worked as a boxing trainer. They had two sons - Dmitry and Anton. In 1991, the whole family moved to the city of Oshawa (Canada). Davydova was offered a job at a non-profit type parent club called Gemini Gymnastics. Among her best students are Britney Habib, Christina Fakulik, Katherine Fairhurst, Daniel Hicks, Sarah Deegan, Stephanie Capukiti.
Elena's parents are retired. Mother Tamara worked earlier in the Leningrad LOMO, and father Victor worked as a mechanic. Also, Davydova has a brother Yuri, who is 12 years younger than his sister. He still lives in Russia.
Present
In 1991, the FIG publication published a list of eighteen gymnasts who made a significant contribution to the development of sports. Among them was Elena Davydova. On the IG website, her name is listed in the Gymnastics Legends section. In 1996, the Atlanta Organizing Committee invited Davydova to the Olympic Games. There Elena met with President of America Clinton. In May 2007, the name of the heroine of this article was brought to the International Hall of Fame. This can be regarded as receiving the Nobel Prize in gymnastics.